Pau Gasol was an exceptional player during his time as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, but a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2008 changed Gasol's fortunes and his destiny.
Gasol never received much credit for leading the Grizzlies to the playoffs in three consecutive seasons, and his Rookie of the Year award in 2004 went largely unnoticed, but a desperation move by the Lakers would change all of that.
Andrew Bynum's knee injury in 2007 threatened to ruin the fragile chemistry Los Angeles was just beginning to establish, and what had been a promising season seemed to evaporate when the center went down.
Kobe Bryant's trade demands of the previous summer which had been quieted by Bynum's emergence threatened to re-surface, and the tenuous grip the Lakers had on first place in the West was threatened.
Lakers' general manager Mitch Kupchak clearly understood the urgency of the moment, and his move to bring Gasol into the fold changed the course of the Los Angeles franchise.
Most of the people around the NBA were enraged by the deal, and considering the primary piece from the Lakers was Kwame Brown, they had every right t ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Hadarii Jones
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June 26th, 2010 by Hadarii Jones Leave a reply »
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